25 Lincoln Land 80s CD pictures so far.

I didn’t meet my goal of getting the Lincoln Land 80s CD pictures project done by Labor Day, but I’m still going to complete the project. And I’m working on it – I’ve managed to take 7 new pictures since last Wednesday. I didn’t take any on Saturday or Sunday, I had family over those days. Of course, I would’ve got rained on had I took pictures those days.

These are the last 7 of them (since the last post on Lincoln Land 80s):

* Lincoln Statue at Lincoln Library: This is a “cubist” Lincoln statue at the entrance to Lincoln Library (the downtown one) on Capitol Avenue. Some people don’t like it, but I actually do like this statue. Somehow it seems to remind me of my 1980s youth. In any case, I think it goes along well with the building.

* 200 block of South 5th Street, Looking North from Monroe Street: This is one of the downtown blocks in the 5th Street nightlife district. A lot of the bars/nightclubs/late night restaurants in Springfield are located on this street. I took this one in the evening as people were milling about and sitting outside at some of the restaurants to capture the mood.

* Skyline from the 200 block of South 9th Street: This is taken at sunset, looking west towards the big hotels and the Illinois Building. The lights in the hotels and the colors from the sun setting create a very vibrant scene, one that I feel represents downtown Springfield. The city’s alive!

* Lincoln-Herndon Law Offices: Also called the Tinsley Building (for its owner Seth Tinsley), this building, located on the southwest corner of 6th and Adams, is the only building still standing today in which Lincoln had law offices. (Lincoln also had law offices in a building where the Myers Building is currently located and on the 100 block of North 5th Street; these locations are marked by plaques.) The building was preserved in 1986 by a local preservation group who bought it and then sold it to the state. The exact dates Lincoln had offices in the Tinsley Building (and where) are unclear, but he did have an office in the front of the building and (later) in the back. The building is basically the same today as it was then, except for the first floor, which has a small museum, and the Tinsley Dry Goods gift shop (one of my favorite Lincoln shops in Springfield). The post office is in basically the same spot as it was then. I shot this one from the north side of the building, close up. You can almost imagine Lincoln coming up to the door and entering it.

* Abraham Lincoln Presidential Museum at Sunset: This shot was taken from “behind” the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Museum, through the trees on the grounds of the nearby Horace Mann building. I’ve always thought the museum looked neat at sunset, so I wanted to do a shot of the museum at sunset for Lincoln Land 80s.

* Lincoln Statue at 6th and Adams: This is my favorite Lincoln statue in Springfield. It shows Lincoln as a normal Springfield citizen, and as a lawyer and politician, before he became well known nationally. Mary is straightening his tie, with his son Willie standing beside him. His son Robert (Tad wasn’t born yet) is running away from him (this was not captured in the picture). This statue is life size, and it certainly encourages tourists to interact with Lincoln as evidenced by its popularity as a tourist gathering spot. This makes it rather difficult to take the picture, since I don’t want people directly behind the statue (though I like capturing people walking around or sitting at sidewalk cafes on 6th Street in the distance). I used the Lincoln-Herndon Law Offices as a backdrop to represent his career at this point in his life.

* 300 block of South 8th Street, Looking North from Capitol Avenue: This section of 8th Street is actually a tree-canopied brick pedestrian walkway between City Hall and the police station. You can see these buildings along the side of the street; further down the street, you can see Saputo’s (a very good Italian restaurant), the President Abraham Lincoln Hotel, and the Convention Center.

The 7 new pictures:

Lincoln Statue at Lincoln Library	200 block of South 5th Street, Looking North from Monroe Street
Skyline from the 200 block of South 9th Street	Lincoln-Herndon Law Offices
Abraham Lincoln Presidential Museum at Sunset	Lincoln Statue at 6th and Adams
300 block of South 8th Street, Looking North from Capitol Avenue